


The Veil

by Entwinedlove



Series: Anomalies of Time [9]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU - Repealed Statute of Secrecy, Bucky Barnes Lives, Canon Disabled Character, Characters Running Away From Uncomfortable Situations, Coworkers - Freeform, F/M, Past Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, SHIELD, Sirius Black Lives, Time Travel, Unresolved Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 09:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16808218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Entwinedlove/pseuds/Entwinedlove
Summary: Hermione, Harry, and Steve investigate a second Veil of Death.





	The Veil

"You joining us for another mission, Carter?" Sirius asked as Peggy approached them. "Or is it Barnes, now?"

She ignored him and turned to Bucky. "It's a long drive, are you up to it?"

"For the first eight or so hours then you'll have to take over," Bucky nodded. He shut the trunk of the car and headed around to the driver's side. It gave him a moment to scrub the giddy smile off of his face. He knew that Peggy wouldn't take his name, she'd worked absolutely too hard to stand on her own to have her name sluiced off like she wasn't her own woman. Bucky respected her for it immensely, but at the same time, knowing she came home to him at the end of the day hadn't stopped putting a smile on his face in the last six months. And Sirius wouldn't be Sirius if he hadn't noticed and made it a point to rub it in every chance he got.

"Would you rather sit behind me or Bucky, Agent Black?"

The gobsmacked look on Sirius's face regarding being regulated to the back seat had Bucky sniggering. He covered it by coughing lightly and getting into the car. Pulling his door shut would have settled the argument but he was alone in the car for another half a minute before the passenger side door opened. An enormous black dog barrelled into the back seat and sat in the middle, head level with Bucky's and mouth already open in a wet, tongue-dripping pant.

"Eugh, really Sirius? You could at least _not_ drool on me."

Peggy didn't bother to hide her snort of amusement. "You'll need to roll your window down for him."

"Why does it have to be my window?" Bucky asked even though he was already reaching across his body to spin the crank to roll the window down.

He glanced back at her when she was quiet and the look on her face told him everything he needed to know. _Because she refused to have him leave dog drool on her shoulder_. He felt a glob drop down the back of his left shoulder and nodded, a silent, _good point._

They could have flown to New Orleans, of course, but Sirius still didn't technically exist and they didn't want the hassle of flying. Even if the giant dog could've been crated, he wasn't keen on staying in a cage. Bucky knew his history and didn't blame him.

So, as SHIELD's top agents, they decided to drive to their destination.

Sirius had said he was looking forward to the visit as it was a haven for witches and wizards. Bucky believed it and had voiced the concern that if the paranormal stone archway they were heading to investigate was magic-related, shouldn't the magical government handle it? Peggy had said that since they weren't supposed to know of its existence, they had to work under the assumption that they were the only ones investigating.

The first leg of the journey was easy. The drive was pleasant and they made good time. When they stopped to stretch their legs, eat, and relieve their bladders (Sirius shifted back, even though Bucky teased and told him he didn't mind walking him), Peggy took over the wheel. Bucky had expected Sirius to return to dog form. He hadn't, so while he was trying to nap, Sirius was busy asking questions, telling stories, and making jokes. Not that Bucky typically minded any of those things but he was tired and just wanted to close his eyes. Before they'd gone much farther he snapped.

"Can we find a place to sleep for the night?" He realized he must have yelled when Peggy's soft chuckles and Sirius's rapid-fire delivery both cut short.

"Are you all right, James?" Peggy asked.

He licked his lips. She only typically called him that when she wanted a level of professionalism between them—like in front of other agents. But Sirius was a friend; Sirius called him Bucky. He breathed out, calmed a little by the steady road noise under the car and the sudden quiet of the other occupants. Finally, after a second heavy inhale and exhale he said, "I didn't realize how tiring the drive would be. I'm sorry I yelled." He looked from Peggy to Sirius in the dim light of the car interior.

Peggy glanced at him and then back at the road. "Is your arm hurting?"

Bucky's first instinct was to deny it but even as he was opening his mouth the persistent ache of it suddenly came into clear focus. He exhaled again, now understanding where most of his irritation had come from. His missing left fist felt like he was clutching fire with it. On top of the phantom limb pain was the sharp sting where the plastic edge of the cuff of his prosthetic was rubbing in his armpit. "Yes. And the prosthetic is pinching."

"Do you need help taking it off?" she asked calmly.

"Peg, I'm not going to strip in the car."

"We still have hours to drive before we stop for the night. There's no need to suffer pain that you can ease."

He waffled on about it for a few more moments before reaching up to start unbuttoning his shirt. He felt ridiculous but when he unbuckled the prosthetic and it fell away from his shoulder he sighed. His armpit was still tender but that particular spot of pain was eased. He brushed his hand through his hair and then leaned his head back against the rest. "Thanks, Peggy," he mumbled.

A few hours later they stopped at a motel for the night. There were two beds and Sirius, as a dog again, had claimed one of them. Before Peggy went to take a shower for the night, Bucky gave her a perfunctory kiss on the temple. He undressed down to his undershirt and shorts and crawled in the bed, falling asleep quickly.

They all woke up early the following morning to finish the last leg of the journey. After a shower, Bucky got back behind the wheel and drove the rest of the way. During the drive, Sirius was in his dog form but when they got to the city, he shifted back and the three of them headed for the destination they'd been given.

From what Bucky could tell, the strange stone archway they were there to investigate was inside the first floor of an old church. They were led in a side building past rooms of children at desks and into the church near the apse. There was a short, narrow, hidden door behind the altar that they were instructed to go through.

To lighten the mood, Bucky glanced back at Sirius and whispered, "Are you allowed in churches?"

"Haha, very funny. Of course, I'm allow—whoa."

The tiny room behind the altar was bare. The high walls were stone but there were no windows. The room was lit by a single torch that flicked harshly like it was held in a windstorm. In the centre of the room was a tall archway with a thick black curtain blowing in gusts of high wind.

"Where's the breeze coming from?" Bucky asked, knowing neither Peggy or Sirius would know.

"That's a Veil of Death, all right," Sirius said from where he was standing just at the door like he was scared of stepping further into the room.

"All right," Peggy said, her tone no-nonsense and ready to get to the bottom of the mystery. "So we're here because the archway has been acting abnormally. From what the nuns reported, it's never caused such a racket. Normally the curtain is still and there's only a pleasant breeze."

"Do you hear that?" Bucky asked. He blinked and took a step closer to try and make out what he was hearing. It almost sounded like..."Ma?"

"Don't, Bucky," Sirius warned, "Don't get too close. We don't know if this one will act like mine and spit you out in some other time... or... or if it's really just going to swallow you up into nonexistence."

Peggy glanced back at them and took another step forward, seemingly unafraid. "Yes, I hear... I hear Michael." She blinked a few times in rapid succession but when she turned to look back at Bucky he could tell she had tears in her eyes. "Not Steve, though. Why not Steve?"

"Guys?" Sirius said, trying to warn them again. Bucky looked away from the curtain to Sirius just as he slipped past like he was being dragged across the floor. "No, no! I don't want to!" As he started to slide past Peggy she grabbed hold of his waist to try and anchor him. Her heels screeched sound across the floor. Bucky reached out and grabbed her around the waist to add his body weight to hold Sirius back from the Veil. The wind noise had increased tremendously. They sounded like they were in the centre of a storm.

"You're not going anywhere without me, dammit," Bucky said through grit teeth, mouth pressed into the back of her shoulder.

There was an almighty jerk that seemed to knock Bucky loose from the floor and then all three of them went tumbling through the archway past the heavy curtain.

* . * . *

While they were waiting for the liaison from the International Auror Division to show up, Steve was enjoying the architecture of the French Quarter in New Orleans. From where he was sitting on an upper balcony of their hotel, he could see plenty of buildings that had a similar style. The multistory balconies with their floor-to-ceiling windows, all open to let the light, humid breeze blow through. He liked the colourful buildings with their slightly crooked walls and the immensely detailed cresting around the roofs. He knew he was here for another paranormal mission with Hermione but maybe before they left, he could spend a few hours trying to capture the look of the place with pencil and paper.

Movement caught Steve's attention and he saw that their liaison had just arrived via Portkey. He had Portkeys explained to him as items charmed for long-distance or group teleportation. He hadn't had the chance to experience the sensation of either form of magical teleportation yet but from what he'd been told, neither were very comfortable forms of travel. They were used mostly because they were convenient and fast.

He stood and went to meet the Auror. From the way Hermione was hugging the fella, he had an idea of who it might be. Sure enough, when she stepped back he saw it was the same messy-haired, spectacled man he'd met before. Steve had read some of Hermione's books about the Wizarding World in general and Harry Potter specifically, so he felt marginally more aware of who this guy was, especially in regards to who he was to Hermione.

"Harry, I know I introduced you before but—"

"Steve, right?"

"Yeah, nice to see you again."

"Same. I'm glad it's not for another extraterrestrial disaster." He looked back at Hermione. "Catch me up to speed, why did SHIELD request me?"

"I requested you as soon as I found out what we were looking at. It's another Veil, Harry."

"Like the one Sirius...?"

"Yes. Just like the one in the Department of Mysteries but this one is acting abnormally. The caretakers of the museum it's in said it's been causing electrical interference. They said for the last week it's been so windy in the room that the curtain is blowing straight out like you'd see in hurricane footage."

Steve wasn't sure what or who a _serious_ was but he could recognise the visual cues of a man re-experiencing something painful. He'd read the briefing. This particular paranormal phenomenon was called the Veil of Death. Unknown date of creation and unknown creator. As far as the communities they were found in, the Veils had just been there since time immemorial. Reports of hearing voices from beyond the grave were common for many people who came near to them and of the few documented cases of someone falling through one, the person was never seen or heard from again.

He followed Hermione and Harry down to the lobby of the hotel and let them catch up with one another's lives as they walked the short distance to the old convent where New Orleans's Veil was located.

They were led through the nave of the church, directly to the altar. Hidden behind it was a small, old door and beyond that, they could hear the wind howling like a raging storm. Before they'd even got close, Hermione turned to Harry. "Can you feel that?"

He nodded and palmed his wand. The poor guy had gone pale and looked like he was about to walk towards his death. Steve knew he was rather helpless when it came to magical things but he liked joining Hermione on her missions and he would keep both of them safe in any way he could.

He had to turn sideways and almost crouch when he followed them through the door. Hermione and Harry had their wands lit, illuminating the small room. It was much taller than he'd expected, probably the same height as the sanctuary behind them, and the walls were thick, heavy stone. They would hurt if they came loose and fell on someone. The ceiling was domed and although there were no windows, there was a great wind that swirled around and around that felt like it could flip a car. In the centre of the small space was a stone archway with a heavy, threadbare curtain hanging from the top. It writhed and curled in the high-force winds.

"Harry?" Hermione called and Steve was only sure he heard her because he saw her lips moving. "Do you feel the threads? It feels like there is a hole punched through fabric. It's all frayed."

Harry was still staring at the archway, eyes wide and unblinking. "Do you hear them?"

Steve did hear voices. He heard his Ma. Colonel Phillips. Dum Dum's ridiculous battle cry. He did not hear Bucky. He blinked and looked away, only to realize he'd been steadily moving closer. When Hermione had first briefed him regarding this thing, she'd told him not to move towards it no matter what he heard. He'd responded with a smile and a, "Now why would I do that?" He hadn't realized how strong the yearning to hear them would be. Harry had been moving closer too and Steve reached out and put his hand on Harry's arm to hold him back.

Hermione alone seemed unaffected. "Harry, grab one of the threads, help me pull!"

Steve had no idea what she was talking about and assumed correctly that it was something intangible that only Harry could feel. Harry lifted his wand and did a spell and then pulled back, moving his arm in a circle, like he was winding a thick rope with the tip of his wand.

There were new voices suddenly, a woman's voice saying his name, a man's scream, and then another man's swear.

The high winds ceased, the roaring died into a whimper, and all three of them were flung back into the wall. The stones did hurt, Steve noted, though he was thankful none of them had fallen. He was the first on his feet but then he stuttered to a stop and blinked.

Standing in front of the now still curtain were three people—Peggy, Bucky, and an unidentified man.

Bucky's gaze didn't waver from Steve as he mumbled a shocked, "Holy cow."

* . * . *

The first thing Peggy could think was that somehow she'd hit her head and she was dreaming. Or hallucinating maybe, because standing in front of her was Steve. There were two other people but they didn't matter to her. Just Steve, staring at her like he couldn't believe his eyes, like she was some miracle or dream.

Were they both dreaming, then?

And she thought of their kisses and their tentative plans and their what-ifs and she shouldn't. She could still feel her husband's arms around her back, could still hear the echo of his words, _you're not going anywhere without me_.

Then the other two people did matter as they both lifted wands and aimed them at her and her companions.

"Sirius?" the dark-haired man said from beside Steve.

"Harry," Sirius answered. He hadn't pulled his wand as far as she could tell but he looked wary.

"What was the last thing you said to me before you fell through the Veil in the Department of Mysteries?" The young man named Harry asked, squinting like he was trying to stifle emotion.

Sirius nodded like he understood—Peggy did not—and answered, "I said, 'Harry, take the prophecy, grab Neville and run!'"

Harry released a half-stifled sob and rushed at Sirius, embracing him tightly with Sirius squeezing just as hard in return.

Bucky cleared his throat a little and moved a step away from them, dropping his arm from her waist. "Steve... is this... do you know us?"

The woman answered when it looked like Steve was just going to continue staring at them. "Are you Director Carter's husband?"

Pain wrote itself across Steve's face. Bucky ducked his head and the thing that had given him joy every time it was mentioned for the last six months seemed to cause him immense pain. He looked back up and met the woman's eyes. "Yeah." He was doing an admirable job of not looking at Steve to see his reaction.

"Then I think this is the same timeline. I remember seeing your photograph on Director Carter's desk after she hired me and became my mentor at SHIELD. I'm Hermione Granger, by the way."

"James Barnes."

"Well, Mr Barnes—"

"Agent," Peggy said, correcting her.

Hermione nodded at her. "Director Carter, Agent Barnes, what do you say we wrangled the rest of our companions and get away from the Veil, hmm? It seems whatever was causing the disturbance has fixed itself. Sirius, Harry, come on. You can catch up back at the hotel."

Sirius's voice sounded a little choked but he pulled back out of his hug with Harry. "Is that little Hermione?" She gave him a look and he chuckled. "Yep, couldn't mistake that glare for anyone else unless it was coming from Molly Weasley herself." He and Harry stayed close to one another as the six of them trooped out of the church.

Nothing was said as Hermione led the way back a short walk to a hotel and to their room. She cast some sort of spell at the walls and then turned back to look at them. "All right, I know you all probably want to catch up but I need some information for my report so we can get started on paperwork to get you three legal again. Unless you think you'll end up returning to your time?"

Peggy shook her head, as she had no idea what had happened.

"What year was it when you left?"

"What year is it now? How is Steve here? How can this be the same timeline? Steve..." he paused and glanced briefly in his direction, "Steve died," Bucky asked.

"That's part of the catching up. It's Friday, 19 July 2013. Did you three fall into the Veil here in New Orleans or did you come through some other portal?"

"Wednesday, 19 July 1950, and yes, it was the same archway," Peggy answered. Despite how much she wanted to know about Steve and how he came to be sitting right there, she understood the need for information, especially if they were working for SHIELD.

"Sirius, how did you end up in the past? What day?"

He had looked up at his name from where he'd been simply staring at Harry. "Same day as I fell through, just in 1947. The Veil in the Department of Mysteries."

"Three years for you, seventeen for us." Hermione ran her hand over her hair and blew out a breath. "This is crazy and it's going to take a lot of Arithmancy charts to see if I can explain this phenomenon. Anything else?" She looked at Steve, who was still staring quietly at Peggy and Bucky, then she looked back at Sirius and Peggy. "I know you want to catch up so I'll just... I'll go for a walk or something."

Before she could leave, something on her person—and Steve's—chimed. Hermione pulled the small device out of her pocket before Steve did. "It's Sharon, she says Peggy's missing from the nursing home." She looked back up at Bucky. "If you wanted more confirmation that this is indeed the same timeline, there you go." She turned to Steve who had pulled his device from his pocket but not done anything with it. "I'll talk to Sharon. Here's hoping Evelyn and her kids haven't disappeared as well." And then she left, practically bolting from the room.

Sirius and Harry were talking quietly next to one another on the loveseat, ignoring the three of them.

"How?" Steve finally asked.

Bucky told the story of how he survived with the help of magical people in the Alps and how he eventually joined SSR and then SHIELD when Peggy and Howard had set it up. "Your turn," he said when he had summarized the last five years of his life. He hadn't mentioned their marriage once.

"I didn't die when I scuttled the plane. The water—the ice—I... it froze me. The glaciers shifted and the plane was found in 2011... and SHIELD thawed me out. Hermione helped get me acclimated and after... well there was a national emergency six months after that and that's when I decided to join SHIELD."

The three of them looked at one another and Peggy was sure that amid the shock and joy of seeing one another again, she could feel the tension regarding the things they hadn't discussed. Steve's gaze had slipped down to the wedding band on Peggy's finger and to the hook prosthetic where Bucky's left hand should be.

Steve finally seemed like he was going to break the tension first and said, "So... when did—" but the door behind them opened and Hermione came back with several folders in her hands.

"Oh, good, you're all still here." She looked at Peggy and spoke to her first. "Since you were the only one still living, I didn't have to do much with your paperwork other than add a note to your file mentioning the time travel." She handed Peggy a folder as she spoke. From beside her, Bucky made an odd choking noise at Hermione's words. She directed her attention to him next. "One of the benefits of working at SHIELD is I can get paperwork pushed through the typical departments much faster than the average person." She handed him a folder as well, saying, "Your death certificate was rescinded with notes mentioning the time travel."

"When did I die?" Bucky asked.

"1986, on a mission for SHIELD." She answered. She glanced down and her no-nonsense expression turned sad when she looked back up it was directed at both Peggy and Bucky. "Unfortunately Evelyn and your two grandchildren have been unborn. I'm sorry."

"Unborn? What does that mean?" Peggy asked. She felt the ridiculous need to put a hand to her stomach. She ignored the instinct and kept her hands right where they were, clasped in her lap.

"She was born in 1953. Seeing as you won't be there to have her, she..."

"Stopped existing?" Peggy didn't know what to feel about that. It wasn't as if she'd lost a child she'd carried and known and loved but at the same time, the idea that she'd had a child, had had grandchildren, and they no longer existed due to their accidental jump forward in time... it stung. She'd had a child with Bucky.

"Yes. One of the dozens of consequences time travel can cause. I've already dispatched two Magical SHIELD agents to work on creating explanations for their disappearances. There's way too many people they could have interacted with in their lives to just obliviate memories but spreading information about time travel would pose an enormous risk to the stability of the universe. Speaking of stability..." she turned and handed her last folder to Sirius. "You did an excellent job of not existing during your visit to the past, Agent Black."

"Then how did you know I was an Agent?" Sirius asked.

"SHIELD has some very classified records. Including old SSR files. It seems an Agent Jack Thompson referenced the name Agent S Black in a single report during the autumn of 1948. Everyone else who you might have worked with did very well not to mention you. You're a ghost. Our current director, Nick Fury, would like to speak with you regarding a new position with SHIELD. A caveat from a witch living in the United States, though, only take it if you're going to be based out of Britain. There's still anti-wizard laws on the books here."

Sirius scrunched his nose. "Really? Like what?"

"Well, citizens don't have the right to vote and citizens or not, we don't have equal rights. Muggles who own private businesses can discriminate against us if they want. And there's the miscegenation laws."

"I thought Rappaport's Law was repealed in '65?"

"These are on the Muggle side. And it's on a Federal level. Intermarried couples' marriages were revoked in 1999 after the exposure of magic. They classify us as non-human and ban interspecies unions on the basis of bestiality."

"I'll show them bestiality."

"Ugh, Sirius, I could have lived without that thought in my head," Harry said. From beside Peggy, Bucky was nodding in agreement.

Unable to help herself, Peggy looked back to Steve. Instead of the humour, or perhaps bemusement she expected to see on his handsome face, he looked heartbroken again. She must have said his name or made a small noise because everyone turned to look at her and then at him.

His pained expression was pinned on Hermione. "That's why you said—"

Hermione interrupted him with a swift nod and a look in Peggy's direction. "Yes, that's why I said what I did. I'm sorry. I... I didn't know how to bring it up." And suddenly Bucky's omitting details about their relationship might not have been out of shame but out of courtesy; she wondered if he had picked up on body language between the two of them that she hadn't.

Steve nodded and stood. "Excuse me," he said, half-glancing in Peggy's direction before he all but ran out the door. Hermione watched him leave, frowning. She sighed, then perhaps compartmentalized, and turned back to Sirius.

"Did you have any other questions?"

"Yeah, one. When'd he ask?"

Peggy could see her entire body tense up at the question. "Last month."

Sirius let out a low whistle, "Merlin, Kitten. You couldn't have brought it up in a month? Why didn't you just—"

"You know what, Sirius, you don't have any life experience to speak from so why don't you—"

"Hey!" he shouted, "I have life experience! I've probably been in more relationships—"

"Right, because twelve years in Azkaban, two on the run, and another being an alcoholic and arguing with your mother's portrait constitutes experience. Don't try and give me relationship advice!"

Harry stood up, putting his hands between them, though neither of them had moved. "Now I remember how volatile you two could be. We're going now. I've got a Portkey, he's got to meet the kids and get settled and..." he patted Hermione on the arm, "I'll call you later." Several seconds later, both he and Sirius had vanished from sight. There hadn't even been a pop like when Sirius did Apparition.

Hermione inhaled deeply, held it, and then exhaled before turning around. "I apologize. I'm going to... I'll send a message to Steve and the three of you can take the jet back to DC—that's where SHIELD's primary headquarters is now—and I'll... I'll see you around."

Then she too, disappeared, though with the recognizable pop that Peggy was used to with Apparition.

"Well," Bucky said after a few moments of silence in the room, "Welcome to the future, I guess."

The future, indeed.


End file.
